Fortunately, this quick-thinking rally car driver knows that some things matter even more.

While competing in the Constalica Rallye Vouzela, a two-day race through the highlands of Portugal, three-time winner Carlos Matos cast aside any chance of taking first place again — all to avoid possibly hurting a pup.

During the second-to-last stage of the race, Matos and his navigator were rounding a corner when he suddenly spotted a dog who'd wandered onto the course. Despite traveling at speeds upwards of 90 mph while sliding through the turn, Matos managed to spin the car to a screeching halt in the blink of an eye, allowing the dog to escape uninjured.

Matos eventually got back on track, but that lifesaving delay is said to have cost him the victory. But Matos says he wouldn't have had it any other way.

"The dog was not very big, but in this life not everything of value is. Those who know me know I have great admiration for animals," he later told the race's organizers, adding that he has five dogs of his own. "If it happened again today, I would do the exact same thing."